Thursday, 4 December 2014

Ancient India - prosperous and talented

Based
on well-known western sources, travelers' accounts, and interesting
comparative studies of the conditions of Indian subcontinent, a clear kaleidoscopic
picture comes out nice and clean of India's past regarding the then
prevailing social conditions, economy, education,etc Before the
Muslim invasion from NE and later the British rule, India was a
powerful economy, not in the least backward economically, culturally
or socially. It had a monopoly in exports of textiles, spices,etc
which attracted a host of invaders for several centuries before the
British.

Padmanabawami temple,Kerala.pooja gold utensils. srirangaminfo.com

Columbus
and Gama were after India in the late 1400s. After the Portuguese,
the British traders came and settled down here, their exploitation
and Machiavellian administration at last made India's name synonymous
with hunger, disease and poverty - a country of panhandlers,
swamis, snake charmers and hobos. After the major war at Buxar, Bengal (October,1764) and subsequent treaties at Allahabad (the last one in 1765), the British East India company became the unrivaled master of a huge chunk of NW india comprising Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The company got the legal recognition of the status of paramount power in Bengal,etc. Though Governor Clive was not totally immune to vices and unmeritorious behind-the-scene activities, he was an excellent administrator. After his departure from the Indian sscene there was lawlessness. Susequently the company managed the situation fairly well with the arrival of Warren hastings and others. By virtue of its recently acquired enormous power, the East India's grip on the natives and
their fertile lands tightened.Trade restriction, forced cultivation
of crops that would benefit only the British, higher taxes, breach of
treaties with the rich Indian Maharajas and Nawobs, etc ruined once
a prosperous nation. The enormous export was increased by process of British investment i.e., purchase of Indian goods for export out of revenues of Bengal and other provinces.The perpetual drain of revenue, resources from India made the country desolate and desperate.Under their rule, rich Indian princes were
pushed from sublime to disgrace; once rich traders and farmers, now reeling
under poverty, were forced to become slaves and indentured workers in
other countries run by the British crown. The non-cooperation among
the Indian rulers created a favorable situation for the foreign
rulers. The rulers, who came to India thousands of miles away from
their mother land literally broke the Indian's backbone and the Indian peoples' hospitality towards the Europeans pushed them
to the edge of a cliff.

According to economic historians, India between first and eleventh
century attained a sustained economic growth and enjoyed highest
GDP in the world - 30% of world's GDP followed by China- 25% whereas
Europe's GDP was just 11%. So, India was the richest nation for more
than 1000 years. The Europe 500 to 1000 BC was in a medieval period
- some what backward.

The
subcontinent was divided into various kingdoms efficiently ruled by
Maharajahs, kings and Nawobs or by their representatives or
chieftains either independently or by their subordinates. Traders,
royal employees, military people and peasants were well taken care of by
the rulers. They had a wonderful system of administration and their
subjects never went to bed with pangs of hunger or worries. They encouraged
arts, music and literary works. They also patronized experts in
various fields in their courts. The ancient rulers particularly
Cholas and Pandyas had well-known poets and scholars in their
courts and never failed to give them continued patronage.

In ancient India the artistic, innovative and pious Hindu kings with
surplus money and resources built huge temples with tall ornate stone
towers, chatrams (rest houses or lodges with free food), for the travelers, donated a
lot of gold, silver jewelery, precious stones, utensils and lands to
the temples. They employed a large number of people including
Brahmin priests and Oduvars (to sing devotional hymns) and others to
run the temple administrations. They also had the habit of safely
keeping the gold, & sliver, jewels, coins, vessels, etc in the
highly guarded inner sanctum of Hindu temples, preferably in secret
underground cellars in case of invasions.. Both
in the palaces and in many temples they had built a myriad of secret
underground tunnels of reasonable size with proper ventilation connecting nearby areas –
a sort of escape route in the event of wars and extreme emergency.
This was true of most of the peninsular rulers of yore as well.

The Padmanabha Swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram (anglicized
name:Trivandrum), capital of Kerala is a case in point. The temple
was built in the16 th century. In the vast temple's' underground cellars
are stored valuable treasures gold ,silver, jewels, puja (payer)
vessels, gold coins, highly valuable precious stones,etc worth $ 15 to 17
billions plus donated by the pious Travancore Royal family!! This
was brought to light a few years ago early-June, 2011 through Supreme
Court Order. This temple is one of the very few richest temples among
the rich ones in India as well as in the world.

Padmanbaswami temple,Kerala, Lord's gold jewelery. www.rediff.com

.....''Rare
jewels, stone-studded crowns, heaps of gold and silver coins, idols
and gold, silver and brass platters and lamps, whose value is
estimated at nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, were found in the temple in
July 2011, catapulting it overnight to one of the richest in the
country.Mounds of precious gems, lakhs of gold coins, long gold
chains, gold rings and bars, gold barrels etc were discovered when
the metal doors of the secret cellar were opened.Several bags of
coins from the erstwhile Travancore royal family rule, coins from the
Napoleonic era and the East India Company period were also discovered
from the secret cellars ....'' (from Times of India)

Lables

About

I am KN.Jayaraman, Retd Geologist, author of this blog. I have a strong passion for Ancient Indian Culture, art, architecture, etc...
I started this blog with a view to covering the above areas and also odd things related to India.
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